A Theif of Life, Souls, and Love
by anondabunny
Summary: If there was one thing Allen had learned from years of being a professinal assassin and pickpocket, never, EVER, under any surcomstances, steal from a mage. -contains a hint of yaoi, could also be seen as brotherly love- TITLE CHANGE
1. Chapter 1

OK! NOTE!

I'M REALLY UNHAPPY ABOUT 'Twilight Inferno' AND SUZU, SO I THINK I SHALL STARTS AGAIN WITH A DIFFRENT CHARACTER! WOOOOOOT!!!!!

*cough* Ok, I think I pushed my voice a little too far...

Anyway...welcome Allen Cleod...professional assassin and pickpocket.

* * *

The cold night air wisped around the city of guilds, Dahngrest. Few people were roaming the street at this hour, save for street dogs and drunken idiots. Inside the safe confines of the local inn, Rita Mordio was freaking out.

"WHERE DID IT GO!?" She yelled, digging endlessly though her bag, even going as far to search her guild member's bags.

"Well..." Yuri dodged a flying spell book coming in his direction. "...What are you looking for?"

"My blastia!" She shouted at him and jabbed a finger in the direction of her neck, where her blastia once resided. Estelle wore a worried look on her face as she approached the enraged mage.

"Rita, maybe you just...left it somewhere?" She tried to reason, but the red-head was having none of it.

"Left it somewhere...? I NEVER EVEN TOKE IT OFF!" She screamed. Estelle flinched and the sudden rise in tone from Rita.

"Don't yell at her, she didn't do anything!" Karol yelled. The mage glared down at him with all he might.

"Maybe she's right, maybe you dropped it." Judith said, Yuri nodded in agreement. Rita let out a frustrated sigh and stormed out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Estelle called.

"I'm going to find my blastia!" was all they got as response before Rita slammed the door to the inn shut, making the clerk jump in fear.

* * *

A dark figure starred intensely at the inn as the mage stormed out. He smirked, too easy. The mage was so wrapped up in herself she didn't even notice him slip that stupid necklace off her. He pulled out his pair of pliers and the necklace. The gem on here will be worth a fortune. He chuckled and his smirk widened. He quickly quieted his laughing and slid further into the alley.

Meanwhile, the hot-headed mage was storming around the city, cursing under her breath.

"AH! Why did I have to lose is?!" She yelled in frustration. The man in the alley snickered and touched the gem of the necklace, making sure it was real, too many times in his earlier years had he been tricked. Once he poked it, a great flow of light erupted from it and surprised the man. He dropped the necklace and stumbled back into some crates, making everything tumble down like a house of cards, but with a lot more noise.

Rita spun around and dashed towards the light and the noise. She turned a corner just in time to see a dark figure in a long coat run off.

"HEY! STOP!" Rita yelled, but the man was already gone. The mage toke a step forward and felt something brush against her foot, she looked down to see her blastia laying on the ground, giving off an eerie green light. She picked it up and examined it, no serious damage, but of course that wouldn't stop her from catching the sick twisted guy who dare kidnap her blastia.

* * *

The dark figure turned down a series of complex alleys and stopped outside of the barrier of Dahngrest. He slumped against the wall of a building and slid to sit down. He rolled up his sleeve and inspected the source of stinging pain.

He swallowed an audible gasp of pain. His hand was charred and bleeding. It had taken all his strength just too divert the blow even slightly and now he was drained, barely having the ability to stand. He glared and bit his lip, running his uninjured hand through his blond bangs that hung around his pale face. He closed is pale azure eyes and granted his mind a moment of peace, which was broken not moments later with a menacing growl. His eyes snapped open and he quickly got to his feet, staggering. He pulled out a double edged dagger from his boot and charged toward the pack of four monsters surrounding him. Lashing out with his arms he managed to kill two of the pack before being knocked to the ground by the third and forth.

"AH!" He screamed as he covered his head with his arms, preparing to be hit.

But the hit never came.

He opened his eyes to stare up at the taller man before him. His short red hair blew lightly in the wind, his green eyes staring with the intent to kill. The blade of his katana was pointed toward the man's face made the younger of the two swallow. The red blood of the monsters stained the shining steal of the sword. Slowly the blade lowered to point at the ground.

"Roma..." The man whispered. The taller red-head smirked, the murderous look in his eyes fading into a playful and cherry sparkle. Slowly, he extended a hand out for the younger to take. He did and was hoisted up to his feet and supported by the elder's armour clad shoulder.

"You should really be more careful of yourself, Allen." Romano said cheerfully. Allen glared at the taller man.

"Just shut it." He growled. Roma smiled wider and hoisted Allen up in his back.

"Let's get back to base, Okay?" Romano asked, Allen nodded slowly. So they set off, just as the first light of dawn spread across the city of guilds, Dahngrest.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Hiya, I'm back.

Thank-yous to WildfireDreams for the loving review ^-^

anywayz....-_-"

Here we go~!

* * *

Karol sighed heavily and turned to the door just as it opened. "Rita?" He called. Everyone turned at the sound of the name. Rita stood in the door, a confused look on her face....

.....Wait.....

_**What**_?

Rita Mordio, **THE** Rita Mordio, was _**confused**_? The world must be ending. That's it. The end of the world. But no, we all know the world is not ending, but Rita was confused.

"What's wrong, Rita?" Estelle asked. The red head snapped out of her daze and looked at her pink-haired companion.

"Huh?"

"I asked if you where alright." She repeated.

"Oh...yeah. I found my blastia." She said before she trailed off into her thoughts again.

Estelle smiled sweetly. "Well, that's good."

"So you _**did**_ just drop it?" Yuri asked, leaning against Raven as he flipped a coin in his hand.

Rita glared hard at the raven's direction. He just smirked and went back to fiddling with the coin in his hands. "NO! Someone _**stole**_ it!"

"Then _**how'd**_ you get it back?" Judith asked from her spot on the arm-chair.

"The thief dropped it." she said a-matter-o-fact-ly.

"Who would drop something so precious that they, themselves, stole? Of course, unless they just _**found**_ it on the ground because you dropped it-"

"I didn't drop it!" Rita hollered.

"Right..."

* * *

Romano sighed as he wrapped white gauze around Allen's burnt hand. The younger winced when the larger hands of his partner gripped his own.

"You're a klutz." The elder said. Allen growled and looked around him. The base was covered with books and papers and it was completely dark except for a single candle standing on top of a dresser. They had walked, or Romano had walked, Allen was carried, to their base in the abandoned building in Dahngrest to await their boss's orders. The red-head had immediately bandaged Allen up.

The blond was pulled from his daze when a series of soft knocks on the front door. He quickly got up to answer it, but Romano had already made it to the door and answered it. By the time Allen got to him, the door was already closed again and the elder was standing with a piece of paper in his hands.

"What is it, Roma?" He asked. Romano turned to him, an uncharacteristic serious look plastered over his normally cheerful features.

"You've got a job."

* * *

"Are you okay?" Yuri asked a now sulking Rita Mordio. She glared at him with harsh eyes from her place on the edge of the bed.

"No, I'm not. I don't like it when my things get stolen, I don't like it when things happen and I don't know why. So, no, Yuri, I'm not okay!" She hollered.

"Well, we're about ready to leave, so stop sulking and get outside." Yuri said in a bored and annoyed voice. Rita sighed and got up, making her way outside. The sun was high in the sky and the guild, Brave Vesperia were already up and waiting to leave the city of guilds behind.

"Everyone ready?" Yuri asked. Judith and Estelle nodded, Karol gave an affirmative shout, Raven smiled and Repede barked in confirmation. Rita merely grumbled and walked ahead of the group. From the shadows of a nearby building two voices whispered.

"What crawled up her ass and died....?"

"Shhhh!"

"Whatever..."

Allen nodded in Romano's direction and moved out from the shadows, putting up his best front. The two walked swiftly ahead of the group with little suspicion. They already had their cover stories, two runaways looking for a place to start a guild. Allen couldn't help but let his young mind wonder to his objective.

_Kill the child of the full moon and anyone who gets in your way._

The blond grumbled as, from the corner of his eye, he could see his target. The bubbly, pink-haired girl. He smirked a devilish smirk and turned to Romano. He only stared ahead, not meeting his partner's eyes. What would be the point? The red-head already knew what a look of blood-lust on Allen's face looked like, and he didn't like it. He had killed on the battlefield with him, he almost felt sorry for the enemy. Romano never like the look of red blood on Allen's fragile hands and face, it didn't match his pale skin at all.

Sickly and fragile.

That's why he had to protect Allen.

That's why he was here.

That's why he was alive.


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you my ever-so-supportive and ever-so-perceptive friend, Ranchdressing ^-^

As a friend of mine told me, when you have an idea, you just start writing...and that if you think your work sucks, then it will suck. =_=" Good advice from a wise old man...*cough cough* anyway, here we go...

The day had been long for both of the parties. Allen and Romano had kept in the shadows of the guild, resting only for short periods of time. Brave Vesperia had been fighting monsters left and right ever since they left Dahngrest. Something seemed to be attracting unwanted attention to the group, they had even stopped multiple times to check if they had spilled a dark bottle in their bags. Nope. Something was up, but they didn't have time for that, they all just wanted to get the hell out of the open and into the closest inn they could find.

Luckily, that wasn't far from where they were now, but unluckily, it was through a big herd of hungry wolves. Karol gulped down the lump in his throat. This was getting old, quick. Allen and Roma, however, had taken cover in a tree. But unfortunately, the pain-killers Allen had taken at the beginning of their trip were beginning to make his mind fuzzy and matted with unnecessary thoughts. He wobbled. the branch he has standing on was suddenly starting to become slippery and harder to stand on. Soon enough, he lost his footing and fell to the ground with a scream of surprise and an audible thump.

The noise caught the wolves attention. Allen shivered and winced as he sat up, he could practically see the gears in their tiny minds turning, figuring if they should eat the group with weapons, or the kid with none.

They thought logically, the kid was big enough for all of them to have some without any going to waste.

Allen smirked and reached for the knife in his boot, ready for a fight.

But before the wolves could come within 3 meters of the boy Romano had jumped from the tree and sliced every single one open. He was surrounded by a dark aura and had a murderous look in his eyes.

'Whoa...' Karol's eyes shone in admiration. 'He toke them all out with a single go!'

Romano sighed and his shoulders relaxed. "You idiot..." He whispered.

Allen looked up, confused. "Huh?" Was all he got out before Romano had smacked him over the head with the hilt of the sword.

"AH!" Allen screamed in pain and rubbed the now forming bump.

"YOU IDIOT! DO YOU EVEN THINK BEFORE YOU PUT YOUR ASS ON THE LINE!?" The red-head hollered at the younger. Allen growled.

"I just slipped. No big deal."

"It _is_ a big deal!!" Romano screamed back. His face had now become the same bright shade of red as his hair. Allen was about to make a retort when Yuri swiftly cut him off with the one question on everyone's mind.

"Who the hell are you?"

Both the men froze. Who were they? Why were they here? Then it clicked in Allen's mind...

The cover story!

"Uh...w-we're from Dahngrest. We wanted to join a guild..."

"Why where you in the tree?" Rita questioned. Romano jumped on that one.

"We were hiding from that pack of wolves..." He said.

"But from the looks of it you didn't need to be. I mean, you took them all out with a single strike." Judith noted. Allen growled at Romano, who gave him a helpless look.

"I...uh....was just protecting my brother!" Romano said as he gestured to the shorted male. Allen gave the red-head a shocked look. Yuri raised an eyebrow sceptically at the two before he was cut off by Karol.

"You can join our guild!" He said excitedly. 'With those wicked sword skills we can beat anyone!' He thought.

Allen and Romano glanced at each other before the both smiled, each knowing that the other was sharing the exact same thoughts. "Okay!" They shouted in unison.

"R-really?" Karol asked in disbelief.

"Sure, why not?" The blond said. 'Too easy, the closer we get to them, the less suspicious.'

"Alright then, let's get moving, team!" Allen stumbled to his feet with the help of Romano and they both started walking, Brave Vesperia not far ahead.

They arrived at Heliord a few minutes later, much to the relief of the newly expanded guild. They found the inn and quickly paid for their rooms. The two new members of Brave Vesperia collapsed on the coach as soon as they got in the room.

"You guys must have been traveling for a while, we didn't even notice you." Karol said with a smile. The elder groaned and let his head fall to the couch cushion with the small sound of a puff.

"Don't mind him, he's just a grouch sometimes." Allen dismissed with a smile as he lifted his head off the arm of the couch, dark circles forming under his bright grey eyes.

"You guys are kind of strange." Judith smiled back at the blond with a type of menace that only Allen would be able to deceiver behind those red eyes. Romano twitched.

'Strange?' He growled under his breath.

'You're one to talk.' Allen hissed

"Anyway, we should all get some rest." Karol said as he put his bag on the floor. The shorter blond nodded as he sat up and stiffing a fake yawn.

"How about you go to bed ahead of me." Romano said to the younger as he stood up to his full height, Allen just smiled and lay down on a bed on the far side of the room and let his hair fall over his delicate face.

"You two are really related? You look so different..." Seeing the dark expression on Romano's face, Estelle immediately regretted saying her thoughts out loud. "I-I'm sorry! You don't have to say it if it makes you uncomfortable."

"No, you where kind enough to let us join your guild, you deserve to know." Romano sighed, feigning a look of hurt. Without pausing, he remembered the sad life stories he used to hear from the drunkards in the bars he hung around. "My mother adopted Allen when I have 12, Allen was only 5 when we took him in, so he would have been only 3 when his family was killed in a devastating fire. We grew really close but a few years later our mother died and we were on our own."

"What about your father?" Karol asked. Romano shrugged.

"Never knew 'em."

"Agh...R-Roma..."

Everyone turned to the bed where Allen was sleeping to see him tossing and turning in his sleep. The red-head's face darkened as he walked over to Allen and lifted his shirt. Estelle peaked over his shoulder.

On Allen's belt line was a mark, a circle with an X through it. It was glowing with an abnormally green tint. Romano got to his knees and started rubbing Allen's back. They all watched as the groans and yells subsided and Allen was once again fast asleep.

"What was that?" Yuri asked as Romano turned back around to face the group. He hesitated, feeling the pressure on his chest increase as he stepped towards them.

"Nothing, just a nightmare. He has them all the time, no big deal." He mumbled out the last few words, not trusting his voice to hold deep. Yuri didn't look impressed.

"What was that mark, then?" The red-head's brow furrowed and the air became so tense you could cut it with a butter knife. Raven, being old and perceptive as he was, sensed that the new addition to the team was ready to crack some skulls. He stepped between the two males.

"Now, now. No fightn', This ol' man can't take it." He said with a smile. Romano growled and stalked over to Allen's bedside. Not another word was spoken between the two males and the guild.

On one corner of the room, Estelle, Rita a Judith where busy chewing Yuri out for being a jerk.

"I can't believe you did that!" Estelle whispered. Yuri shrugged and muttered a quiet 'whatever'. Rita, however, was sitting with her hand on her chin, trying to figure out why that greenish tint she saw on Allen's skin looked so familiar. Then it all hit her like a splash of ice water.

The blastia.

It made that exact same green glow.

Just to confirm her suspicions she turned to the pair of men on the other side of the room. Sure enough, Allen's right hand was covered in white bandages. Rita concentrated, trying to find the details of that memory.

_The mage stopped in her tracks, something had caught her attention. It was a trail of blood, fresh too. And...was that a bracelet? It was also covered in splotches of red blood. however touched her blastia must have paid the price._

"Rita....Rita.....RITA!!" The mage jumped and fell of the chair with a loud thump. Everyone in the room turned to look at the guild, even Romano turned to see. Karol, the one who startled her, stuck out his hand for her to take. "Are you alright, Rita?" Rita merely brushed his hand aside and stood up.

"I'm fine, runt." She said, walking over to Allen and Romano. The two red-heads looked at each other with intense looks in their eyes. "Did Allen used to have a bracelet?" She asked. Romano raised an eyebrow and looked at Allen's right wrist. His chain bracelet was gone.

"Yea- But how did you know?" Rita answered silently by pulling a blood crusted chain out of her pocket. Romano stiffened. Attached to the chain was a series of charms, a half of a blue butterfly with a clipped wing, one side of a Yin Yang symbol and a shining stone with the initials AM carved into it.

"He must have dropped it." The elder opened his palm and stretched out his arm. But before he could ask for it back Rita had grabbed his left arm and rolled up his sleeve to his elbow. There, glittering in the light was a silver chain lined with a red butterfly, the white part of the Yin Yang symbol and a gem carved with the initials RD.

Romano jerked his hand back and rolled down his sleeve. With his right hand he pulled the chain out of her hand and tied in around Allen's right wrist.

Not another word was spoken between the two males and the guild.


	4. Chapter 4

*coughcough* I'm ready to take some suggestions for what should happen next. I'm trying to spell correctly but I don't know very good English! I'm sorry Yayoi-san! *bows* FORGIVE MEEEE! TT^TT *cough* Anywayz, on with da story! By the way, I have written a formal apology letter in my mother language...cough...

Яей, мне так жаль! Я не хочу быть так плохо в написании! Мне очень жаль!... Рыдать ...

The next morning Allen was the first to wake up. He had woken up to a blue dog stiffing his bandaged hand. He felt like screaming, but felt is a very strong word. He more...wanted to scream, only he was tired, It was early morning, too much energy. So, deciding that he was just gonna go along with it, he patted the dog on the head and rolled off the right left side of the bed (the other side was where Romano had fallen asleep and was now sliding off half of the soft mattress).

Allen wondered briefly where he was. But again, it was early in the morning and he didn't question anything in the morning. Slowly he walked across the room.

_Chinngg_

He stopped. Looking down he saw that his bracelet was glittering in the lamp light. It was crusted with blood and the butterfly on it was chipped on the wing. He frowned. He loved that bracelet, it's what connected him to Romano.

"_I'll protect you..." _

His words reverberated in Allen's mind, his eyes turning sad and distant. _But I want to protect you..._

_The lights at the bar gave off a soft orange light as Allen sat, slumped over, his hand covering the now bleeding part of his forehead. He stared at the empty bottle of whisky in front of him. Sighing, he stumbled out of the bar and onto the cold, wet street. The rain quickly soaked through his shirt and drenched his hair, making him shiver under the weight of his own clothes. Allen walked slowly, but still managed to trip and fall on his face. Carefully picking himself up, he crawled over and slumped against the stone wall. He slipped in and out of consciousness. His eyes opened when he felt a large, warm hand placed on his small, shaking, shoulder and the rain was no longer pelting his soft figure. Looking up, he saw a man with bright red hair holding an umbrella over his head and holding his shoulder. His shirt was hanging off his shoulder slightly and Allen could see a mark of a circle with an X trough it. Smiling, whispered to the younger._

_"I'll protect you..."_

"Allen?"

Silver eyes widened as the blond male turned around to see a bubbly pink-haired girl standing before him. She stepped closer to him.

"I'm glad to see your awake, you scared us when you where groaning in your sleep." She smiled, Allen gave her a confused look.

"Who the fu- Oh!" Suddenly remembering the pervious events he smiled at the girl. "Uh, thank you for worrying about me Estellise. I'm fine, thank you." His voice was sickly sweet. The kind that made you sick to your stomach.

"Good!" She smiled and clapped her hands. "What would you like for breakfast?" Allen's eyes widened. FOOD? His stomach growled deeply and reminded him of his discomfort.

"Uh, could you make...pancakes?" Allen's quiet and musical voice coupled with the slight sparkle in his big eyes made his look like a kitten. Estelle, suddenly taken aback by the change in his voice, laughed nervously and nodded. Allen shuffled closer to the pink-haired princess. "With strawberries?" She nodded again. Allen then turned and shuffled over to his bed. Romano groaned and rolled off the edge of the mattress, his messy mop of hair sticking up in blobs as he stood up straight.

"Who's making food?" He asked in a groggy and tired voice. His normally bright eyes clouded over with sleep. Estelle raised her hand with a smile. "Cool, what's for breakfast?"

"Apparently pancakes..." She giggled and headed off to start preparing their meal.

Romano turned with a smile to the half asleep Allen laying on the bed in the most seductive position...The red swore he did this on purpose. Allen's hair was sprawled in all directions on the pure white pillow beneath his head and the faint hint of a blush lingered on his pale cheeks as he lay in a little ball.

With one swift motion, Romano swooped down and wrapped his strong arms around the smaller male, lifting him off the bed in the process. The younger screamed as he was jerked from his slumber by the taller man, his blush became more vivid as he slowly realized how close they quickly smaked the taller on the head. Romano screamed and dropped Allen not-so-gently on the floor.

"Owwwww..." Romano graoned while he rubbed the new forming bump on his head.

The pancakes were done by the time everyone was up and about. Romano and Karol had gotten into a lengthy discussion about where they were headed and Allen had started speaking with Judith, Estelle and Rita about miscellaneous things.

Yuri glared half heartedly at the young blond boy from across the room. He had been having a bad feeling around this kid ever since last night. There was just something...off...about him. Just then Allen turned his head to glance at Yuri with large, blue eyes. His eyes closed and he smiled a soft smile. Yuri glared harder, he had never noticed but...that kid gave off some kind of dark aura.

Many didn't know, mostly because Yuri was rather secretive, but since Yuri was small he's had strange...hallucinations. Like seeing ghosts and monsters, things that weren't really there. At first, nobody thought much of it, just a little kid playing with his imaginary friends. After he got to the age of ten, though, kids started to make fun of him for it. So he learned to keep what he saw to himself, even if the monsters attacked him while he slept. Now it was second nature to just ignore them.

But this was one of those times were he couldn't hide his disgust.

The aura around Allen and Romano was dark and it reeked of death and destruction. I looked the same as the ones you see surrounding powerful monsters, it made him uneasy.

Raven had obviously noticed the younger's discomfort. "You alright, kid?"

Yuri flinched and turned to face the dark haired older man. "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

Yuri turned away again, hiding his face from Raven.

The grey-haired archer sighed. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, okay?" He glanced over at Yuri, watching his dark purple hair fall in front of his eyes. "I just want you to know that you can always talk to me."

Yuri didn't look at Raven as he walked away, instead he was staring at the several little delusions laying on the ground. His soft grey eyes closed as he let himself fall into a deep feeling of peace.

He felt confused and muttered up inside. Why were Raven's words making him feel like this? Placing a hand on his throat he contemplated why his mouth had become so dry. He blushed bright red and placed a hand on his face, trying to calm himself. Why Raven? His heart started beating fast as he repeated Raven's words in his mind.

"...Why?"

Meanwhile, Karol and Romano were busy discussing their destination.

"Now that your part of our guild we have to move as one group. So, is there anywhere you need to go in particular?" The young captain asked.

Romano smiled and said "The capital, Zaphias." Karol's eyes widened in a confused gesture.

"Why?"

"We want to visit an old friend of ours. We think he can help us find our father." Romano brushed some shaggy bangs out of his shiny green eyes. He glanced over at Yuri, who was sitting off in the corner. His face looked flushed, maybe he was sick? No, Romano didn't know enough about him to say that. He turned back to Karol.

"I think we can help." Karol said with a small smile, he was starting to really enjoy Romano's company. The red-head male stretched out his hand. The young captain toke his hand and they shook on it.

"Deal."

Important note!

As you can see, I'm going for RavenxYuri and RomanoxAllen. But I have no idea what the other pairings should be, so write a review telling me what pairing you want and why. If your reasoning is good, then maybe I'll even change the main paring =^^=. So...REVIEW


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